New York Nature

One last chance to cram in more New York moments! After all, we had return bus tickets that needed to be used up, and a whole morning to waste away in the city, so why not make the most of it? Bags packed, we checked out of the Quality Inn Lyndhurst and boarded the 191 into New York City one last time. During the ride, we browsed through the tour book, looking for ideas, when I remembered a suggestion Lesley had made regarding the American Museum of Natural History. Though we only had a few hours, why NOT use them to explore one of the more fantastic museums in the city(and for all you movie buffs out there, this is where they filmed "Night at the Museum", with Ben Stiller).

One thing I've never understood is museums that have a "suggested donation" entry fee. What brave person is going to approach the ticketing agent with a 5-dollar bill and ask to enter the museum? And we were never really given the option pay anything else BUT the suggested ticket amount, plus the 5-dollar extra fee to see the planetarium, of course. But how could we miss out on a show narrator by Neil DeGrasse Tyson?! We couldn't - the star of the Cosmos series reboot makes learning about the origins of the universe so fun. Plus, the planetarium here is an actual planet, complete with nearby solar system!

We followed up the trip to the stars with a quick tour of some of the other galleries, passing by scenes of North American Mammals, a giant Indian war canoe, precious stones and the meteorite room. We learned about the origins of the human race and gawked at dinosaur skeletons and moon rocks. We passed through many a gift shop filled with all sorts of strange and wonderful things. Once lunchtime rolled around, we decided we had seen a fair share of the museum and needed to leave some for the next trip, so we crossed the street into Central Park for a picnic.

Past Strawberry Fields and the Mall is a great expanse of grass called the Sheep Meadow. Here, we purchased a couple of sandwiches and drinks from Au Pain Quotidien, a cafe in the park, and plunked down onto the grass for lunch. We watched New York families picnicking on blankets, tossing frisbees, people sunbathing out in the field, or strolling under the trees. On such a beautiful Sunday, the people of New York were getting out of their cramped apartments and enjoying nature in the centre of the their city. What a great place to be.

Noting the time, we gathered our things and began the trek back to the bus station. On the way, we wandered through a street market, lined with stalls selling everything from the same I *heart* NY souvenirs we've seen all over to the city, to unique fashion items, by way of BBQ ribs grills and lemonade stands. What an eclectic mix of things to peruse! At this point we realized that our bus was coming soon, and if we missed it, we would be stuck in the city another full hour, so we hurried along. Dodging smoking grills and comedy club performers, we weaved through the crowds of Times Square, past the lines of the Cake Boss' bakery, and into the bus station, where we made it with 1 minute to spare. We counted our lucky stars that, this trip, timing had been on our side, took our seats and enjoyed the ride.

Back on the road, this time in our own car, Mario and I reflected on all that we had seen and done over the last 72 hours, making note of the things we missed, and planned to see again next time around. It had been several very busy, packed days, that seemed to stretch into weeks, and we were surprised to realize that this had only been a weekend in the big city. Imagine what we could have done with a whole week's worth of time?! With so many places to visit, so many restaurants to try, and so many corners of Central Park yet to explore, we would definitely be back.


Until next time.